


Black Curtained Place

by TheBardsCipher



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Endings are still my weak point that has not changed, I was going for a Lup vibe, That didn't stick long, all writing and editing was done around 1 am in the morning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2020-02-08 16:36:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18627085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBardsCipher/pseuds/TheBardsCipher
Summary: It's lonely being a shadow.





	Black Curtained Place

The first thing Lena noticed was that she was warm. It wasn't the burning hot that she first felt when she was created but it certainly wasn't the freezing cold she had previously felt in Magica's shadow. It was warm, like basking in the sun on a summer day. It felt nice.

She slowly opened her eyes. She could see things, though it was all in muted colors. She could see the ceiling of Webby's room, almost as if she was laying on the floor. A sound of distress caught her attention and she tried to move to see where it was coming from.

Everything went black.

When Lena came to her senses all she saw was pitch black. The only light in the area was a pale blue glow that seemed to be emitting from her. The warmth she had felt earlier had faded a little bit but it was still warmer than the last time she had been in a place like this.

'Great,' she thought, 'I have absolutely no magic...'

It was frustrating to her. She couldn't even hear anything from the outside. She could get impressions of feelings if she focused hard enough, but she didn't even know who she was attached to, though she had an idea.

She decided to stand up and check out where she was trapped. It was a small room, if she could call it that. It was large enough for her to pace in, though not big enough for her to do much of anything else. The floor was hard, but the walls felt like some sort of fabric, which was new since the last time she was in a place like this, the walls felt slick and cold as ice. There was no ceiling in sight.

Lena sat down and leaned against the wall. The only thing she could do really was focus on getting her magic to come back.

It took a while, but she soon got enough magic to check the outside again. She just wanted to confirm who she was attached to so she could make a full out plan. If she was still attached to her aunt, she'd just stop. It wouldn't matter anymore. But maybe she was attached to Webby or one of the boys, and if she was they could figure something out to help.

She sat in the center of the room. Focusing on pushing her energy out of the room. Before, when the walls were hard, she could barely do it, but now, with the walls as soft as they were, it was surprisingly easy.

When Lena opened her eyes again she was back to muted colors and shapes. She was against a wall. She could see Webby's back as she sat on the floor. In front of Webby was a huge cork board. The sound of a door opening startled both Lena and Webby, if Webby's very slight jump was anything to go by.

“Webby! You ready to go on an adventure?!” The voice of the blue triplet called out.

Webby jumped up. “Yeah! Just a second!”

The sudden movement of the shadow Lena was trapped in threw Lena off and everything went black again.

Lena gasped as she woke up. She was connected to Webby, that answered her first question. Now she could get to work. First, she needed to get more energy and make her magic stronger.

It was frustrating of course, sometimes she yelled and clawed at the walls. There were times she wanted go out and check how Webby was, but she knew that that would waste whatever energy she had saved up. Other times she just curled up and cried. She was lonely, but she had to make herself known and to do that she had to be lonely for some time.

Time meant nothing when one couldn't keep track of it, but eventually Lena felt strong enough for several shadow visits...or maybe something stronger, though that would use up more energy. Lena wondered if she had enough energy to do a combination of both. She decided to attempt it.

When Lena melded with Webby's shadow this time Webby was sitting in the television room with the triplets with a card game laying in front of them. Webby had a tri-fold folder in front of her so the boys couldn't see what she had laid in front of her.

“What does this card even mean! What are these anyways? Irons or those weird things that Uncle Donald ties to his fishing hooks? None of these rooms even have anything to do with those...” Dewey whined.

“This room has a lot of boat imagery. It could be that room...” Huey said.

Lena would have rolled her eyes if she could. Now that she was here she needed to get their attention. Anybody's honestly, but by the looks of it, preferably someone other than Dewey. She didn't think she had enough energy to manipulate Webby's shadow, but maybe she had enough energy to move something or make a noise. That's what she'd do. She mentally took a deep breath, gathering enough energy to send her voice echoing across the room.

“Webby!” Lena called out. It wasn't loud, much to Lena's dismay, but it was loud enough for all the kids to stop bickering over rooms and symbols.

“Did you hear that?” Huey asked.

Louie nodded. “Unfortunately. Can we just hope it was Mrs. Beakley and like...maybe say Webby wins and leave the room?”

“That so wasn't Mrs. Beakley...” Dewey whispered.

Webby was looking around behind her, after all that was where the voice came from. All that was behind her was her shadow. “That sounded like Lena...” she said.

The boys glanced at each other. Louie stood up. “This is getting creepy...”

Huey's face shifted into something thoughtful. “It did...that's weird...”

Dewey looked at Webby. “Do you think there's a way she could have survived?”

Lena wanted to stay and cry out again, but when she tried again, it didn't work and it all went to black again. Lena was getting tired of the color black.

When it first happened, it startled her. She had a sudden rush of adrenaline, causing her to jump up from where she was sitting. It didn't last long and it left Lena confused. When it happened a second time, it was very similar to the first time. Adrenaline seemed to fill every inch of her and then some, making her snap her eyes open. The third time struck her hard as fear made her lean against the fabric wall. The impressions didn't surprise her afterwords.

The first time she heard a voice spooked her. She had been laying on the floor with her hand against the wall as she used the blue glow to try to guess the colors on the wall. So far she'd figured out the wall had a striped pattern with even small stripes making the stripes up. It looked oddly familiar, but she couldn't figure out why.

It came as the sensation of curiosity made her antsy. “Where am I?” The voice echoed around the room, causing Lena to sit up. Webby couldn't be here! She just couldn't. Lena moved away from the wall and looked around the room. She couldn't see much.

“Webby!” Lena called out.

“Yeah?” Webby's voice echoed across the room.

Lena gasped softly and ran to the center of the room, only to find it completely empty.

“Oh! This looks cool!” Webby's voice echoed again.

Lena stepped around in a small circle as she tried to figure out what was going on. “Webby?!” She called out again.

“OH! Come here and look at this!” Webby sounded excited about something.

Lena took off in a random direction, but soon came to a wall. She held her hand nearby the wall to shine light. Dark color, blue, almost purple, blue. Dark color, blue, almost purple, blue. Lena growled and looped her finger into the wall and pulled. Where she pulled snagged, bunching up ever so slightly. Lena quickly started running along the wall.

“I know right! I think I can read some of this!” Webby's voice echoed, causing Lena to pause where she was. In the distance she could see where she pulled on the wall.

“Aw, Uncle Scrooge...” Webby almost whined as Lena felt both disappointment and relief flood her. Webby wasn't in here with her. Lena could hear stuff from the outside. Lena almost laughed. Instead she just curled up and cried.

She mainly heard Webby though as time went on she started hearing other voices. It was odd hearing things after so long of nothing. It was almost enough for her to find overwhelming. She quickly figured out how to make it stop, but sometimes it was nice to just sit there listening for a short while. Most of the times Webby would be with the boys or her Grandmother. Other times Lena caught her talking with Scrooge or Donald. Sometimes Lena caught Webby in tears.

When Lena had the energy she still tried to make contact by melding with Webby's shadow. Lately she'd been trying to save energy so she could do something physical, maybe trip someone or push something off a desk. It really just depended on where Webby's shadow was when Lena showed up.

With amazing luck, it was against a cabinet in the kitchen. Webby and Beakley were cooking, though she could hear the blue triplet, Dewey, somewhere nearby. She focused on making the shadow stretch a little bit, something she'd tried several times by now, and used her energy to knock a cup off of the counter. It flew farther than she had expected and she heard it hit something.

“OW!” Dewey cried out.

Lena would have laughed if she could. That certainly couldn't have gone any better. Well, maybe if it had hit the nerd.

Webby looked up. “What happened?”

Dewey walked into Lena's range of sight, holding the cup in one hand and rubbing his shoulder with the other. “This cup suddenly flew and hit me...”

Beakley glanced around. “Duckworth?”

Duckworth floated down from the ceiling. “Yes?”

Beakley pointed to Dewey. “Did you hit him with the cup?”

Duckworth raised an eyebrow. “Even you know I wouldn't do something like that...”

Beakley sighed. “Well, the cup was sitting on the counter and then it flew and hit Dewey. That is typical ghost actions...”

Duckworth folded his arms. “Well, there aren't any other ghosts in this place...”

Beakley looked in the area it came from. “Thank goodness for that...” She muttered.

Duckworth floated over to the corner. Lena was frustrated that she couldn't trip a ghost but maybe if she just reached out a little bit more. But darkness took over.

Lena let out a shout when she woke up. She stormed over to the walls and tried tearing at them with as much force as she could manage. She screamed and cried. She shouldn't have tried messing with things, she should have just called out. Why didn't she think? Why did she constantly male things harder for herself. Was it even worth it? Lena leaned against the wall and slid down to the ground, her arms wrapping around her knees.

A voice woke her from whatever sleep like state she had been in.

“Oh dear...” Webby's voice echoed.

Lena could hear a reply but was too tired to tell who it was from.

“My bracelet started falling apart a couple days ago. I hope I don't loose it on this adventure...” Webby voice came again and Lena's eyes widened.

“Why didn't you just leave it behind?” The other person said, which sounded like Louie now that Lena was paying attention.

“It just doesn't feel right. Like if I did I'd be leaving Lena behind...” Webby said. There was a faint laugh. “It's like she's with me when I have it on.”

“Well, I'll follow behind you in case it does fall off. How about that?” Louie said.

“What if we're climbing a rope and you have to catch it?” Webby asked.

“You know what maybe I'll have Dewey back here with me...”

There was another laugh but Lena turned to look to the wall she was leaning against with panicked eyes. No wonder the pattern had looked familiar. Lena's eyes had landed on the piece of the wall that she had pulled and tugged on after failing to get Duckworth's attention. She put a hand to her beak. She was in the bracelet. She was inside the friendship bracelet.

“What have I done...” Lena whispered.

A scream echoed around her and Lena clenched her hand to her chest as the feeling of fear over took her. She closed her eyes and focused her energy to meld with Webby's shadow.

She glanced around her but nothing was focusing. Everything was blurry and seemed to be moving as if she was falling. Lena gasped. She used all the energy she could to take control of Webby's shadow. She heard a sharp in take of breath to her side and looked over. There was Webby, falling alongside Lena. Quickly Lena grabbed Webby by the ankle and then a rock that was jutting out from the wall. She felt more like a solid than a usual shadow would as she stopped them falling.

Webby hung there panting as she tried to calm down. One second she was walking along the rope bridge, one misstep and she was falling, and then several feet before hitting the ground she just stops. Webby opened her eyes carefully and looked up. There holding onto her was a shadow, very similar to how her shadow was during the Shadow War when it came to life, but it certainly wasn't in her shape. Webby gasped. “Lena!”

Lena glanced down, her eyes were glowing light blue. She nodded once but then returned her focus on keeping them from falling.

Webby nodded her head and quickly flipped her backpack off so she could get into it without anything falling out. She felt around from her grappling hook and pulled it out. She glanced down below her. Solid ground. She dropped her backpack and watched it fall the rest of the way before landing and spilling the contains of a first aid kit out. Webby shot the grappling hook at the piece of the wall Lena was holding onto. When it hooked on, Webby pulled to make sure it was hooked tightly. “Okay, you can let go of the ledge now!” Lena let go and she and Webby swung a bit, until Webby was no longer upside down. Slowly Webby lowered them to the ground.

When Lena touched the ground she returned to being flat. She relaxed a bit. She offered a small wave to Webby.

Webby laughed but then it turned into a sob. “Have you been a part of my shadow this whole time?”

Lena nodded but then shrugged. It was bit more complicated. Lena motioned to her wrist.

Webby glanced down to look at her own wrist. “You mean you're in the bracelet?”

Lena shrugged. How it all worked was kinda confusing.

Webby set her hand gently on one of Lena's. “We'll figure this out. We'll get you back here. I promise. Now that I know you're here...”

Lena offered a small smile, but then it all went dark again. She could hear Webby cry out her name.

When Lena heard Webby chant a spell, she nearly panicked, but when she felt a sudden surge of energy she relaxed. Lena closed her eyes to visit.

When she opened them Webby was staring directly in her direction. There was a lamp on the floor behind Webby. Lena used hardly any energy when she took control of Webby's shadow.

“Webby?” Lena tested her voice.

Webby gasped. “You can talk!”

Lena nodded. “I mean yeah, though usually not this often. The one time I tried it was a single word. What in the world did you do? I have more energy now...”

Webby picked up a spell book. “We...kinda snooped through your hideout,” she hesitated at the beginning. She smiled sheepishly.

Lena smiled. “You actually found something in that?”

Webby shrugged. “Not really, but I found your spell for releasing Magica and remembered how I had managed to create a spell and kinda edited it. I hope you don't mind!”

Lena's smile faded. “'Oh yeah, that's perfectly fine...I'm sorry...”

Webby tilted her head and then her eyes grew wide. “Oh! It's okay. I-I know why you did what you did, but you helped stop her. You saved my life and now I'm gonna bring you back.” Webby smiled and laughed. “And here I thought you said you'd be the one to avenge my death!”

Lena tilted her head and then laughed. “I did, didn't I!” She then yawned and the shadow rippled. “Aw man, guess my energy still runs out. I'm gonna have to go, but I'll be visiting more often so don't worry about me okay.”

Webby set her hand on the wall next to Lena. “I'll fix this,” she whispered.

Lena set her hand to be by Webby's. “You be safe too okay.” She watched as Webby nodded her head before letting the darkness take her away.

Lena did visit. Now that Webby had connected a way to share magical energy, Lena's energy grew quicker and lasted longer, but Webby was taking a toll. She was more tired than usual and had trouble focusing. Lena hated seeing her like this but Webby told her it wouldn't be for too long. Either they'd free Lena soon or she'd get used to it over time. Lena really hoped it was the former.

It had been a month since Lena saved Webby. Lena had heard snippets of a conversation between Webby and Scrooge. According to Scrooge he knew of a place where they could go to possibly bring Lena back, but it would be dangerous and, if he was going to tell the truth, take a lot of luck to get the outcome they wanted.

The atmosphere in the room Lena was stuck was humming with a nervous excitement. Lena couldn't help but pace. She was mostly nervous herself. Sure she was going to have a chance to get her body back, but there were so many possibilities of it going bad that she knew it was going to go bad.

As if on cue a ripple of fear filled the room. Lena stopped pacing. Something felt bad, really bad. The sound of a cry filled the area before being cut off.

“Webby!” Lena cried out. She tried to reach out to meld with Webby's shadow but for some reason Lena couldn't connect. When she tried she felt nothing. There was nothing to connect to at all. Lena opened her eyes as her breathing start to speed up.

A ripping sound got her attention and she glanced towards the wall. In the faint blue glow she saw the walls quickly unraveling. She took a few steps backwards, away from the wall before turning and running towards the center. She didn't want to know what would happen when the walls completely unraveled.

Lena noticed that her glowing was fading. “Webby!” She shouted. “WEBBY!” She cried out. The walls were getting looser and looser and the light was getting dimmer and dimmer. Until everything went dark.

Everything hurt when Lena woke up. She could hear someone calling out to her, but she couldn't see anything except for a faint blue glow.

“LENA!” She could hear some one yell. It took a few seconds for her mind to connect it to someone. When it did though, Lena shot up into a sitting position.

“Webby!” She scrambled to focus harder.

She was still stuck in the room she was before, the only difference was the it was much smaller. In fact it was so small that her faint blue glow lit up the entire circular room and she could tell the walls were pink, making them appear lavender.

“LENA!” Webby cried.

Lena closed her eyes and gathered what little energy she could. When she opened her eyes, she was face to face with Webby. She knew she couldn't take control of Webby's shadow but maybe she could call out. But what to get her point across.

“Hurts!” Lena called out. She struggled to stay so she could hear what happened.

Webby let out a sob fulled laugh. “You're okay! You're hurt...”

Scrooge walked over and knelt besides Webby. “Doesn't surprise me. The beast that guards this cave tore it off Webby's wrist. Its hanging by a thread but we'll get you back safely. Trust me!”

Lena wanted to nod her head to let them know she understood. She gathered enough strength to respond one more time. “Safe...”

Scrooge nodded. “Yep you're sa-” But Webby interrupted him.

“Yep, I'm safe. Just a small scratch I promise,” she said. She wiped at her eyes. “And I'll stay safe okay. You probably need to gather your strength. We're gonna get you back.”

The darkness took Lena away.

Everything felt hot. It burned and it itched and Lena wanted to scream.

Then everything felt freezing. It was cold and it gave her chills. Lena wanted it to all stop.

Then it was warm. It was warm and it felt nice. It reminded Lena of being wrapped up in one of Webby's hugs.

She thought she heard voices and she slowly opened her eyes. It was dark but instead of a blue glow it was red and coming from somewhere to her side. Lena tried to move her head but it made her dizzy and she whined.

“Lena?” A voice beside her asked.

Lena looked up and offered a weak smile to the person hugging her. “Hi Webby...” she said. She looked down to see that she was indeed real again. She felt tears pricking at her eyes and shoved her face against Webby's side.

Webby let out a relieved laugh before squeezing Lena a little bit tighter. “I missed you...”

Lena nodded her head. “I missed you too...” Lena then started sobbing as reality crashed upon her.

Webby ran her fingers through Lena's bangs. “I'm here...” she said softly as she held her friend close to her.

Scrooge came to kneel besides them. “Let's get you home,” he said.

“Five more minutes...” Lena muttered as she snuggled closer to Webby.

Scrooge chuckled. “Alright, five more minutes, but then we're leaving this dark cave and getting to someplace safer...”

There was a shuffle from behind them. “I wouldn't necessarily say Launchpad's flying is safer...” Louie said.

“Probably safer than here...” Huey pointed out.

Lena's eyes shot open and she looked back to see the triplets. “Oh...”

Dewey was the first to notice Lena staring at them. “Glad to see you too!” He said with a wave.

Lena sighed. “Safe sounds good,” she muttered.

Webby nodded. “Alright!” She quickly let Lena go, which cause Lena to whine, and stood up. She carefully helped Lena stand up, before Scrooge stood up and lifted Lena into his arms.

“What?” Lena muttered.

“It'll be quicker this way,” Scrooge said.

Lena wanted to argue, but decided against it. “Whatever...” she grumbled with no bite.

Scrooge smiled softly. “Alright, let's go!”

Once they were on the plane Webby sat besides Lena. Lena rested her head against her shoulder and then took Webby's hand. Webby smiled and moved her thumb along the side of Lena's hand.

“You're safe,” Webby said softly.

Lena hummed. “Thank you...”

Both of the girls sat there silently, slowly drifting asleep after a long day.

Webby was warm like the sun and Lena missed that.

 


End file.
